WITNEY MP David Cameron is to repay almost £1,000 wrongly claimed on parliamentary expenses after reviewing his receipts over recent weeks.
The Tory leader had already announced his intention to pay back £680 claimed towards repairs at his second home in Dean, near Chipping Norton.
But last night Mr Cameron wrote to the Commons Fees Office volunteering the repayment of £947.29 – including the £680 for repairs – after identifying a series of over-claims.
He was reported to be sending a cheque enclosed in a letter to Terry Bird, the Commons’ director of operations.
He wrote: “Over the last few weeks, I have carefully gone through the claims I have made against the Additional Costs Allow- ance (ACA) since 2004.
“This has brought to light a number of points. I would like to make clear these were discovered as a result of a thorough review by my office, not as a result of media inquiries.”
The additional amounts for which he is reimbursing the fees office include: l £218.91 in mortgage over-claims resulting from “an inadvertent administrative error” arising from changes to his home loan arrangements.
l £29.38 he claimed to-wards a banner on his website he was subsequently asked by the Commons to take down.
l £9 he was over-compensated for on an electricity and gas bill.
l £10 too much he received for a researcher’s phone bill.
Mr Cameron has previously announced that he would be paying back a maintenance bill of £680 for household repairs to his constituency home.
The work included clearing wisteria and vines from a chimney, replacing outside lights and resealing his conservatory roof, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.
The odd jobs included repairing cisterns, washers and a leaky washing machine.
In his letter, Mr Cameron said: “On reflection, I would like to repay this bill, even though it was entirely legitimate under the ACA.”
Mr Cameron organised a meeting at the Corn Exchange in Witney earlier this month to discuss the issue of expenses with his west Oxforshire constituents.
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